Choice
by lola-amalie
Summary: When the life of someone she cares about is in danger, Caroline finds herself depending on the mercy of the one man she though she could never trust.


**Disclaimer: Based on TVD. **

The phone had rung over five times during the past half hour, but so far she had chosen to ignore it. It wasn't even seven in the morning, and as far as she was concerned even the undead needed their beauty sleep. Whatever it was it could wait until a more decent hour. She turned around and covered her head with her pillow trying to muffle out the sound and the first few rays of the morning sunshine appearing through her window. She had gone to bed late last night and wasn't ready to face the world yet. Not after what had happened a few hours before…

She had been walking home kind of late from the Mystic Grill after having a friendly dinner with Matt that had ended up being a sort of therapy session for both of them. They had each expressed their fears, concerns and even hopes for their future. They had talked about their friends and how most of them seemed to be about to spiral out of control or even worse. Even Stefan was barely hanging on by a thread. But who could blame him? A person could only withstand so much.

They had both reached the conclusion that the day Katherine Pierce, or Katerina Petrova, had decided to become a vampire to escape Klaus was the day their fates had been sealed into a never ending vortex of pain and constant fear. This current plan she had set in motion for some reason yet unknown to them was driving everyone to their breaking point, and the only ones who seemed untouched by it were Matt, because he as the only human in the group and they were all doing their best to protect him from it; and Caroline, who although willing to help her friends had decided she had had enough and would have no direct part in it.

Although, she wasn't foolish, she knew Katherine would find a way to drag her into the fight soon enough. After all, that's what she had done the day she had killed her with Damon's blood in her system so she would become a vampire. But for now, she was more than happy to sit right here with Matt and discuss how they could help their friends, albeit from afar.

They hadn't had a chance to talk in a while so the dinner ended up running a little later than usual. But she didn't mind at all, in fact she was happy and almost afraid to admit it to herself in case she jinxed it. She hadn't realized how much she had needed to talk to someone until she had been walking away from the Grill.

When she was halfway to her house she sensed him. She couldn't explain how, he hadn't made a sound, but all of a sudden she felt a chill running through her body and had immediately known it was him. Instead of being afraid, as her brain told her she should have been, her body to relax even more. It was almost as if every cell in her body had been waiting for him to arrive. And then before she had even seen him, she heard his voice and her heart started beating a bit faster.

"You know it is not safe for beautiful, young women to walk alone so late at night. Some nightly predator might confuse them for a snack." He started walking slowly towards her from her left, hands behind his back.

"You mean nightly predators such as yourself?" She asked him and was surprised to hear a bit of a laugh underneath her own voice. _What's wrong with you Caroline? _He only smirked at her for an answer.

"I'll have you know that I can take care of myself. Being a supposed nightly predator too you know." She actually smiled at him as she said, and decided to give up. If her body was reacting automatically to him in such a way, who was she to fight it? And truth be told, she was tired of fighting. She just wanted to exist and enjoy life for however long this reprieve lasted for her.

"Oh, I know." He was standing very close to her now but was still keeping a prudent distance. It was almost as if he didn't want to invade her personal space. She found this ironic, seeing as how most of their previous encounters had developed with him doing the exact opposite.

"How are you Klaus?" She could see the surprise in his eyes as he detected the honesty behind her words. She resisted the impulse to reach out and stroke his cheek, to make sure he was real. It had been so long since she had seen him, whereas he used to be a constant presence in her life ever since he had first arrived at Mystic Falls.

"You really want to know?" He asked in wonderment, mostly to himself. He looked at her for a moment before answering. "Well I've been busy. In fact I almost didn't come when Stefan called. But it seems that you currently have a serious problem with the doppelganger and are in dire need for my help. And who am I to refuse, particularly when a chance to finally catch Katerina is involved."

They looked at each other for a moment, he waiting for her to react, she waiting for him to continue. When she realized he wouldn't, she told him - "That doesn't really answer my question though. I didn't ask _what_ you had been doing, I asked _how._"

"Why?" The look on surprise was again on his face.

"It's common courtesy you know." She answered with a soft smile.

"No, why do you want to know? I mean, for the life of me I can't understand why you would honestly want to know. I thought you hated me. After all that's what you told me the last time we saw each other before I left." He had walked in a circle around her and was now standing on her other side, his hands never leaving his back. She merely turned her head to face him. She looked at him for a moment before starting to walk towards her destination, ignoring his question.

"Come on, walk me home." Caroline didn't know what possessed her to tell him that, and she didn't even glance backwards to see if he had decided to follow. After a few seconds, she finally heard his footsteps and turned to look at him when he finally caught up. She smiled at him, and he gave her a tentative smile in return.

They continued on their way, never talking, but she could feel he wanted to break the silence from time to time, but never did. When they finally reached her house she was the first one to speak. "Well this is it."

"So it seems." He was facing her trying to decipher something on her face. He was about to say something else when she interrupted him.

"I've missed you." The words were out her mouth before she could hold them back, and the look of surprise in both their faces was almost identical. If her mother had decided to return home at that moment from her night shift and seen their faces she would have surely laughed… before taking out her gun in a futile effort to protect her daughter.

His face hardened for a moment before he reached out to her and kissed her. She hadn't been expecting it. Whatever she had thought she would have accomplished with her earlier weird, so unlike her behavior, this hadn't been it. Her arms remained at her sides, she was too shocked to move, but she could certainly feel. And at that moment all she could register was the way her heart was beating faster than it had since she had died, the way his hands moved to her hair, and the softness of his lips. She could swear his were the softest, most gentle she had ever tasted, ironic considering the man they belonged to. Before she knew it, before she was ready to stop, just as she had been about to hold on to his shoulders, he was gone with no trace of his presence left.

She walked into the house in a daze, put on her pajamas and had gone to sleep almost instantly. And now here she was lying in bed, trying to ignore her phone and the sun… and trying to figure out if last night had been a dream or if it had really happed. A simple touch to her lips had convinced her it had been real. They were still tingling, even after such a chaste kiss.

When her phone had rung a six time she decided it was enough, she had to face the world. Taking the pillow away from her face and reaching towards her phone she saw that it was Stefan calling. She sighed before answering, "Salvatore, I'm going to kill you."

Ignoring her greeting he said in a grave voice, "Caroline, come to the boarding house as soon as possible. Something happened last night." And then he hung up. She looked at her phone for a minute seeing all previous calls had been from him and then shot up from the bed. She knew it. He had done something. Klaus had only pretended to come back to help before making things worse for all of them. How could she had been so stupid last night? What on earth had possessed her and made her act like that? It had been Klaus for crying out loud!

She got to the boarding house and entered without knocking. Right now was not a time for propriety. She barged into the living room where she could hear they were all gathered. She stopped dead in her tracks at the scene before her. Elijah was standing, informing something to the group. Stefan was standing next to him with a grave look on his face. Bonnie was staring out the window; Matt was next to her his hand on her shoulder looking at Elijah intently. Elena was sitting on the floor looking nowhere next to Damon. Damon was on the couch and next to him was no other than Klaus himself, the expression on his face only rivaled by Stefan's. You could cut the tension in the room with a chainsaw.

She caught the last of what Elijah was explaining. "…so Rebekah stayed behind trying to figure out with a friend of ours, who had been close with Katerina at some point, what she could be planning. In the meantime Meg here has an idea of how to find young Mr. Lockwood.

_Lockwood? _What had happened to Tyler? Tears welled up in her eyes as she imagined the very worst. She snapped out of it to see whom she could only guess was the Meg Elijah had been talking about, explaining something she couldn't make out. She hadn't seen her when she first walked in; she was so tiny. But there she was sitting right next to Klaus, with an immense amount of power emanating from her. Not even Bonnie at the height of her expression days had seemed so powerful. Guess the Originals had found the right people to ally themselves with in New Orleans. She finally caught was she was saying as she ended her explanation with a simple "…so we find Nik's young hybrid – and kill him of course. He has to pay."

Klaus wasn't the only one to stare at her intently at the young witches words; everyone else was looking at her, most of them realizing for the first time she was there. It took her a while for the words to sink in. _Wait, kill Tyler? _"NO!" The yell escaped her mouth. "You can't kill him! Stefan, what's going on?"

"Care, maybe we should go into another room and I can explain to you more calmly." Stefan tried to guide her out of the living room but she pulled away from him.

"No, you can explain to me now what happened. Why are you planning to kill Tyler? What is the matter with you people?"

"Let me guess. Caroline?" Meg asked Klaus, who only nodded in return without stopping to look at the blonde vampire. Meg stood up, looking even smaller if that was possible. "Oh darling you're in for a treat. Take my seat, you might need it."

"No, I'm fine where I am. Tell me, what happened?" She looked at Stefan waiting for an answer.

"Caroline – " Elena started, trying to calm her down but Caroline just looked at her with an angry stare before Elijah finally started to explain.

"Miss Forbes, it seems your friend Tyler has decided to help Katerina with her plan and has committed a heinous crime last night." Elijah seemed almost too ashamed to be causing her pain and would barely look at her as he talked.

"No, he wouldn't do that. He's not like that. He would never join Katherine…" She was almost distraught, this was the first she had heard of him in over a year. She refused to believe he was helping Katherine. "What is he supposed to have done anyway?"

"He killed a bunch of kids Blondie. And there's video if you still don't believe us." Damon answered her from the couch before Meg interrupted. "Not just kids, these were future… Well I can't really explain what they were just know that they were meant to help maintain the balance of this world when they grew older. I am one of the people in charge of protecting them and last night while I was here, we had a security breach by a group of witches aiding Petrova and your _boyfriend _came in and slaughtered them. So excuse me for saying this, but yeah, we can kill him."

"Now, now Meghan, calm down. No need to bite Caroline's head off. She's in love with the boy so you can understand her distress at the thought of his demise." Klaus stood up behind the little witch and put his arm around her in a friendly way, almost too friendly. But why was she thinking of that right now? She had to stop them; she had to try to protect Tyler.

"You can't kill him. There must be some mistake; he wouldn't do that. Let me talk to him. Let me try to get an explanation first; there surely is one." The tears that were threatening to fall were finally running freely down her face. Stefan put his arms around her and tried to soothe her. "Caroline, I'm so sorry."

The rest of the morning and some of the afternoon went by with the group planning what they were going to do to find Tyler and maybe even possibly Katherine. Caroline sat by in a daze. She could barely register Elena trying to comfort her from time to time. Even Bonnie had left the window to try to soothe her but to no avail. She had tried to contact Tyler a few times but obviously there had been no answer. She had even suggested calling Hayley but Meg, Elijah and even Klaus dismissed the idea. Apparently she had been working for them or with them in New Orleans and claimed she knew nothing.

At some point during the afternoon she noticed Klaus was gone. When she asked Damon where he was, he said the hybrid had left a while ago claiming he had something to do but would hopefully come back with more information. "Stefan has been so quick to trust him, but my blood still boils whenever I see him. If he decides not to return I won't lie to you Blondie, I won't miss him at all." She merely smiled before starting to walk towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Damon asked holding her by the arm.

"I just need some fresh air." She said barely glancing at him.

He stared at her for a few seconds before some level of understanding reached his eyes. "Fine, just don't do anything stupid."

"I won't." She promised before she walked out the door. Something was telling her to go to the Falls, some sort of sense deep within her, like the one that had told her last night Klaus had been there.

After she had been walking for a few minutes she got a text from the man himself telling her to go where she was going. She laughed before muttering to herself, "Maybe Bonnie's powers have been rubbing off on me."

It was awhile before she reached the spot, even with her vampire speed. When she finally got there her undead heart stopped. Klaus was already there with someone. Tyler.

"This is a trap. I am NOT stupid." Tyler looked scared and angry at the same time.

"Well that's news to me since you have decided to shown otherwise time and time again, your current predicament being a perfect example. However, I believe that Katherine merely tricked you into helping her so I am giving you a chance before the others realize what I have done. Caroline, so good of you to join us." Klaus didn't even turn to look at her. Tyler's eyes on the other hand were wide open as he stared at her.

"Care – " She didn't let him finish before she asked looking at Klaus, "What's going on?" She had been intent on saving Tyler but now that they were both in the same place she could barely look at him, knowing what he had done. She had finally seen the tape, and while part of her wanted to hug him and pretend it had never happened, another part of her was telling her to run away and forget both men in front of her. However, she decided to stay and get some answers.

"Meghan has made it her mission to destroy young Tyler here for his indiscretion last night, she was very close to some of the kids you see. However I have come to realize that maybe Tyler here was working under an influence other than his own and have decided to give him a chance. I am offering him my protection. He however has decided to be a stubborn idiot and remain where he is. Help me to convince him otherwise love." Klaus looked at her with almost a tender expression on his face. If the situation hadn't been so serious she would have laughed at it. She was scrutinizing his face trying to figure out what his true plan was but she could get nothing from him. It was Tyler who finally broke the silence.

"Why should I believe you? You yourself have claimed to wish my head on a plate. If you want to kill me do it now, but stop playing games with me." Klaus merely looked at him before answering. "If it makes you feel any better, I have bought two plane tickets, one for you and one for Caroline over here. But you need to leave now before Meghan arrives. Once she's here I can only hold her off for so long."

"Why would you help us and thwart her plans? I thought she was your girlfriend." Caroline as much as she tried could not keep the tone of jealousy out of her voice. She wanted to smack herself for it. Even Tyler looked at her weirdly.

Klaus merely chuckled before continuing. "She's not my girlfriend Caroline, she's just a really close friend. As to why I'm helping you, my reasons do not concern you. Just leave already. I'll contact you soon enough. Consider yourselves officially in the Klaus Witness Protection Service. Go. NOW." He growled the last word before disappearing at vampire speed.

"Caroline I-" Tyler tried to reach towards her but she stopped him. "Seriously Tyler, not now. Right now we have to focus on getting you out of here." She resisted the urge to break his neck as he followed her trying to reach safety.

As soon as he had walked back into the boarding house, Meghan looked at his face and knew what he had done. He had expected her to be furious at him, but she merely looked at him with a look of understanding on her face and turned away, gathering her stuff before informing both him and Elijah that she would be waiting in the car. Elijah looked inquisitively at him before Klaus shrugged, and then left to follow her to the car. Niklaus laughed to himself. Just when he thought he had the young witch figured out, she always managed to surprise him.

He glanced towards Stefan, the only person he had informed of his plan and nodded to him letting him know that it had been done. Stefan merely nodded as an answer. "We need to go back home for a few days but we'll send help as soon as we get there, and we'll continue searching. We have some sources we haven't exploited yet." And with that Klaus left Mystic Falls for good.

Once they reached New Orleans, they dropped the witch at her apartment and continued towards their home. Rebekah's car wasn't in the driveway when they arrived. They figured she was out with Hayley or one of their friends still doing some research. Elijah had tried to pry out of him and even out of Meghan during the journey home what had happened but both had remained silent. Once they parked his brother once again tried to get some answers but Klaus merely closed his eyes before answering after a moment.

"Elijah I'll explain eventually, but right now I am tired and I have spent more time in a car than I have ever wanted to. You'll get your answers eventually." With that he got out of the car and sped towards his bedroom.

The first thing he noticed was that his bed looked slept on, whereas he was sure he had made it up right before he left. It had been a few days ago, but he never left without making the bed first, it was on his peeves. At first he thought that maybe it had been Rebekah but he noticed the scent in the room was not hers. It was –

"Hey. Took you long enough." His heart stopped as he saw her walking out of his bathroom, drying her hair. "Explain to me why would you drive here, when you could have just flown. That's what I did. I've been waiting for you ever since." The smile on her face shone bright, and he could swear it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"Caroline, what are you doing here?" He couldn't believe she was really here. Surely his tired mind was playing tricks on him. But when she stood in front of him and put her hands on his shoulders, he knew she was really there.

"We got to the airport and after I sent Tyler on his way to safety I changed my destination. Remind me to give you the money they returned, by the way. Anyways, I heard what you said about him not acting under his own influence and I figured you were right. However, I'm not in love with him, I haven't been in a while. I will always love him as a friend and for what he meant to me, but I don't want to run off with him. I just wanted him safe. I know deep inside he's a good guy. He reminds me of someone, you know." She teased him, with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Do. Not. Compare. Me. To. That. Mutt. Again." He pretended to be angry at her words but in reality he was in too much of a shock. And having her so close was making concentrating very difficult for him.

"Now if you hate him so much, why did you help him escape?" He could see she was genuinely curious. So he tried to muster everything he felt for her, everything he had wanted to say ever since he met her, ever since she had made her way into his heart and refused to let go, into the look he gave her as he answered.

"You know why." He merely shrugged, as her smile got even bigger, if that was even possible.

And with that she told him, "I thought so," before claiming his lips with her own and pulling him towards his bed.

**Author's Note: I became bored with the story I was previously writing and decided to drop it for now. I'm going to be sticking with one-shots from now on and maybe someday I'll get back to it. **

**I had a dream a few days ago that Klaus was trying to protect Tyler from a young witch and the idea became engrained in my head and wouldn't leave so I took a moment to write it down. I blame the TVD withdrawal. Here is what came of it. I hope you like it **


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